Show I SEIZING PRIVATE PROPERTY i FOR PUBLIC USE No one is any longer surprised these days at any proposition that is introduced intro-duced in either state or national legislature legis-lature Legislators are seized with the idea that not only are they all wise but that they are all powerful They seem to have all sorts of ideas save those showing good common sense No proposition is so absurd so diametrically diametric-ally opposed to the fundamental principles prin-ciples on which this government rests that if a bill is introduced in a legislature legis-lature or congress to enact it into a law that It creates any surprise though it may call forth a smile And the peope instead of rising up in their might and indignation are sitting quietly by without uttering a single protest Lethargy has taken the place of the spirit of 1776 Tuesday Senator Chandler introduced a bill in the United States senate authorizing au-thorizing the government of the United States to seize the armor plate works of the Bethlehem and Carnegie coin panies It is a bill that the czar of Russia or the sultan of Turkey should and probably would be ashamed to father It very graciously provides that the United States be under obligation obli-gation to make a just compensation therefor in accordance with the fifth amendment to the constitution It makes no difference that these companies com-panies may not want to dispose of their plants the secretary of the navy Is to take them anyhow He is not authorized author-ized to negotiate for their lease or purchase pur-chase he Is to take them just like a pirate or brigand and if their owners do not have their ears cut off and their tongues slit they may think themselves lucky The only pretense of justification that there can be for such a bill is that it is an exercise of the right of eminent domain That is a right which is supposed sup-posed to be exercised by the government govern-ment only under the direst necessity There is no such necessity In the present pres-ent case If the government wants armor plate plants let it buy or establish es-tablish them This Chandler bill is no I more or less than a simple proposition to confiscate the property of these two companies If the property of these companies can be taken inthe manner proposed by Chandler the property of any one in the country can be taken in the same manner It was formerly the theory that governments were instituted insti-tuted to protect people in their personal and property rights but that theory Is I fast giving way to the practice of i plundering them If the government wants the Bethlehem and Carnegie armor ar-mor plate plants let it proceed to acquire ac-quire it in accordance with American rather than Algerine methods |